Month: January 2012

I get awfully tired of packing my lunch for work. Or sorting out the gluten-free dining options near my office and wondering how gluten-free they really are.

Enter Kettle Cuisine and its gluten-free soups, found in my grocer’s natural freezer section. This is a working person’s dream. Each box contains a 10 oz single serving in a microwavable bowl. This makes them even more convenient than a can of soup.

So far I’ve tried the Roasted Vegetable Soup and Chicken Soup with Rice Noodles. The vegetable soup was surprisingly filling and the chicken soup, while not like mom’s, was very good.

Did you know McDonald’s has a gluten-free bun in Spain, Sweden, Finland and Norway?

Talk about feeling left out over here in America. Sheesh.

Although I first learned about this when a friend forwarded me this blurb on gluten-free fast food from CNN’s Fortune blog, the gluten-free bun is apparently not a particularly new introduction.

Still, I thought some of you intrepid gluten-free travelers might want the info should you find yourself in Europe. And if I wasn’t aware, at least one or two of you were in the bunless dark too.

A greater search around the Internet brought up some reviews, which I’ll share below the jump. When I enlisted a friend to check McDonald’s Norwegian website, I got a second shock: Burger King offers gluten-free buns too, at least in Scandinavia!

Thanks to Celiac.com for posting a review of a November study out of Sweden on health-related quality of life, which makes an interesting companion to the study on celiac and depression I wrote about last week.

This study is titled, “Delay to celiac disease diagnosis and its implications for health-related quality of life,” and it examined pretty much exactly what you’d expect. Slightly more than 1,000 members of the Swedish Society for Coeliacs completed a survey and their results were translated to quality-adjusted life year (QALY) scores. These scores were then compared to ones from a survey of the general population.Continue reading “Swedish Study Confirms: Quality Of Life Post-Diagnosis is WAY Better”

Many women (and men) report feeling great after they finally learn they have celiac disease and begin adhering to a gluten-free diet. It normally takes years, still, for a diagnosis — so it makes sense that after so long feeling awful, people would be pretty happy.

However, many people on a gluten-free diet feel stressed when they realize just how often gluten lurks in the world around them. Anyone who’s been on the diet long enough, I guarantee, has had at least one day where they throw their hands up in the air and sigh at the hassle of it all.

Chick-fil-A has a generally good reputation amongst the gluten-free community, and with their latest announcement I expect their reputation will only improve.

According to the press release on their website, Chick-fil-A is adding two new, healthy options for their Kids’ Meal: grilled chicken nuggets and Buddy Fruits® Pure Blended Fruit To Go. Combined with one of the beverage choices (skim milk, apple juice, lemonade or water), it’s about as healthy of a fast food meal as you’re likely to find anywhere.

Now, before I type up the rest of the press release, let’s jump over quickly to the disclaimer on Chick-fil-A’s gluten free info online:

…Some ingredients such as spices and natural flavors may be proprietary; therefore, we may not have the source listed for those items. We recommend you review this list with your physician before consuming any of the products listed below, or any other item on our menu. Although the ingredients in these menu items are gluten-free, we do not have gluten free prep areas and procedures for assembly of these menu items.